


been there, done that, still in love with you

by junhoonie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Volleyball, basically it's a load of different places but mostly a high school volleyball au lmao, mark's a tiny bit of a jerk but dw he gets over it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 00:14:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11452014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junhoonie/pseuds/junhoonie
Summary: donghyuck's lived a lot of lives, seen a lot of faces, but it's always mark he'll come back to.





	been there, done that, still in love with you

**Author's Note:**

> reincarnation au in which every life they're different ages until one life they're not  
> it's my first nct work so pls don't be upset if they're a bit out of character, i'll improve!!

**i.**

it was hard, donghyuck mused, being in love with your teacher. it would have been better if donghyuck had known his crush on mr lee was just that - a crush. but no, donghyuck knew that mr lee was his soulmate. 

donghyuck watched the older male, as he wrote a set of english verbs on the board. 

“so, do i have any volunteers to translate these into korean?” mr lee asked the class expectantly, sighing when they simply blinked back at him. “c’mon class, we went over this last week.” 

the blond teacher scanned over the sea of bored faces, eyes landing on one student in particular. “lee donghyuck.” he said loudly, “can you come up and translate what these words mean?” 

“no.” donghyuck replied lazily, not bothering to look up from his notebook, which - much to the teacher’s disapproval - was devoid of notes from that lesson. 

“and why is that?” the teacher asked sternly. 

“because,” donghyuck said calmly. “i haven’t listened in your lessons for about a month.” 

this much was true, it was a month ago that donghyuck had realized the older man was his soulmate, and the time since then had been spent trying to recall past lives with him, working to remember if he had ever been truly happy with his soulmate. 

the next week, mr lee found out that ‘troubled student’, lee donghyuck, had transferred out of his class.

**ii.**

 for donghyuck’s birthday, his mom had promised to take him to the park. he was excited, because it had been ages since his mom had taken him to the park, since she had started working nights. her new boyfriend was nice and bought him ice creams but he had to work from home, and didn’t have time to take him to the park. 

he skipped along the kerb, right hand clasped tightly in his mother’s, and left held by his stepfather, almost dragging the two adults after him. 

“donghyuck.” his mother said softly. “you run ahead. i have to talk to leeteuk for a second.” 

“okay mommy.” he said sweetly, sprinting ahead to the park, where the swing was free. kicking himself off the ground, he swung his legs to and fro, trying hard to give himself some momentum. 

“would you like me to push you?” someone asked from behind him. donghyuck turned to see a blond man, around his mom and leeteuk’s age. he stayed quiet, remembering the promise he had made to his mother of not talking to strangers. 

sensing his hesitation, the man smiled gently. “don’t worry.” he said. “i won’t hurt you. i’m here taking care of my nephew, jisung.” he gestured over to a kid younger than donghyuck who was in the sandpit with some other boys.

“oh.” donghyuck paused for a second. “then, yes please mister.” 

five minutes of silence passed and the man swung him, until finally donghyuck started speaking again. “it’s my birthday today, mister.” 

“oh really?” the man smiled. “well happy birthday.” 

donghyuck grinned toothily. spotting his mom and leeteuk approaching. “that’s my mom!” he said. “can you please stop me?” 

of course.” the man smiled. the swing came to a halt and immediately donghyuck hopped off and ran towards the approaching man and woman. the blond man watched as the young boy was picked up and swung around, letting out raucous laughter as he spun.  

“thank you.” the woman - his mother - smiled at him. “for being kind.” 

“how old is he?” 

“six years old.” his mother replied. “donghyuck, come here and thank the man for pushing you.” 

“thank you mister.” donghyuck grinned, then running off to join the other boys in the sandpit. 

“donghyuck, huh?” the blond man repeated to himself, sad smile appearing on his face. “just another case of bad timing, i guess.” 

**iii.**

the old man sighed, weight pressed down on the cane supporting him, looking down onto the courtyard of the hospital. a knock on the door brought him out of his reverie, and he turned to see one of the nurses wheeling someone else in. 

“mr lee.” the nurse - kim yerim was what her badge was flashing at him. “we have your new roommate here. this is also a mr lee.” she chuckled. “i’m sure the two of you will get along.” 

“don’t worry,” mark started drily, leaning heavily on his cane as he crossed the room back to his bed. “i’ll be dying soon, and then you’ll have the room to yourself.” 

“mr lee.” nurse yerim gasped, neatly painted fingernails covering her mouth in shock. however, to his surprise, the teen in the wheelchair began to laugh. 

“not if i beat you to it.” he said through chuckles. “last stages of cancer. deemed untreatable. they don’t expect me to last the weekend.” 

for a second, mark was taken aback. how could someone so young talk about their passing so casually? he had lived his life, paid his dues, he could die happily. this kid...this kid couldn’t have even found his soulmate yet. 

“well,” nurse yerim said, back to her cheerful self. “i’ll leave you two alone to bond. you have you ringers by your bed if you need them.” 

“thank you nurse.” the teen nodded gratefully, and as soon as the red haired nurse had exited the room his shoulders sagged. “please don’t call me mr lee. it makes me feel...” he trailed off after remember who exactly he was talking to. 

“old?” mark finished, smiling. “don’t worry kiddo; i’m not offended by old age comments. i am old.”  

“just call me donghyuck then.” the teen finished, and mark beamed at him. 

“donghyuck.” mark mused. “lee donghyuck.” 

the teen nodded. “and you are...?” 

“mark lee.” mark said, and the room was deathly silent for minute. 

“maybe, if i was older, we could have loved each other.” donghyuck suggested, and mark nodded. 

“we could have been golden.” 

donghyuck didn’t make it through the night, and the next morning mark cried at what could have been. 

**iv.**

“donghyuck. donghyuck!” 

the man in question blinked open his eyes to see renjun waving a wide-splayed hand in front of his face. “what’s wrong, you’ve been distracted all day.”

“i don’t even know.” he sighed in response. “i can’t get any work done. i’ve just got this feeling, like; something big is going to happen to me.” 

“maybe you’re going to finally solve that impossible cold case.” renjun joked with a smile, turning back to his paperwork. 

“maybe.” donghyuck replied, leaning back in his seat and reaching for a sip of coffee. “who knows?” 

the rest of the day passed slowly, not boring, but just so slow. he joked around with taeil and renjun, had a chair race with jaemin and did not make any progress with any of his cases - not even the impossible cold case that renjun was really rooting for him to solve. 

and so, it was half an hour before he went off the clock, that’s when it happened. sicheng was showing him a video of the co on a drunken night out, and the two’s laughter was ringing out throughout the office. “haechan.” johnny called to him. “we just brought in these two, vandalism, could you write up this kid’s report before you clock out?” 

“sure thing.” he nodded towards the kid, who looked about half his age. “sit there, kiddo.” 

the boy took a seat, pulling down his hood to reveal frizzy, bleached hair. 

“is haechan your real name?” he asked, and donghyuck fixed him with a look and an eye roll. “is johnny his?” 

“i don’t have to answer any of these questions.” was donghyuck’s reply. “what’s your name?” 

“mark lee.” the kid replied in a bored tone. 

donghyuck paused in his typing and took another look at the kid, sighing in desperation. of course fate had to do that to him. of course. 

he took a deep breath, ignoring the strange look mark lee was giving him. “and what exactly prompted you to egg someone’s house?” 

“he was being a douche.” mark responded, pairing it with a shrug. “he kept making fun of me, just because i haven’t found my soulmate yet.” 

donghyuck paused yet again. “well that’s a shame kid, but you can’t just egg someone’s house because you haven’t found your soulmate.” 

“it’s not my fault.” mark seethed. “i’ve been looking everywhere for even a hint of who they are, but no, nothing. they’re probably dead.” 

the last sentence tore a knife through donghyuck’s chest, and he swallowed, turning to continue typing up the report. 

**v.**

“alright team, fall in!” the coach yelled, pausing the 1v1s taking place up and down the net. the thirteen of them gathered round the older man, ready to hear his speech. 

“now. as you all know, we recently lost yixing, the captain of our a-team, to the unstoppable force commonly known as college sports scholarships. so now, we need a replacement captain, someone to follow in his footsteps. i have consulted some of our,” he paused to cough. “senior team members.” 

mark looked over at the elders of the team - jongdae, kyungsoo, chanyeol and sehun - who were all gathered up in one tighter huddle. jongdae and chanyeol were b-team members, both of them good players, but lacking the real edge that got sehun and kyungsoo in a-team. 

“and, they have all...politely declined the position of a-team captain. so, after much deliberation, i have decided that the role of captain will go to one of our star players of a-team, lee taeyong!” 

the team fell into cheers at that, everyone pleased with the decision. taeyong was a popular player, the right mixture of skilled and nice to people. 

“and while taeyong takes the captain’s number, i’ll be moving moon taeil from b-team to play in yixing’s old spot. well done taeil.” 

there were more cheers, as taeil nodded gratefully, looking a little embarrassed to be the centre of attention. “who’s replacing me as b-team captain though?” 

“b-team captain will be nakamoto yuta!” coach announced, pausing to let everyone celebrate yet another good decision. “that brings me to our final piece of business. now we have a b-team libero space free.” 

this peaked mark’s attention, he had a few friends that had tried out for the team as liberos themselves. 

“now, i know that there are a few juniors in this very high school that would be excellent additions to the team. however i will not be choosing any of them to play b-team libero.”

he paused, as a murmur of confusion ran through the group of boys. 

“i know a few of you are questioning this decision, but i have been informed by the principal that a student will be transferring here from eastbrook high.” 

another ripple of noise ran through the group, eastbrook high was notorious for having a practically unbeatable volleyball team. every time either of their teams, a or b, had been against them, they had been beaten. whether it was narrowly, or by a huge gap in points, eastbrook had always won. 

“transferring here will be lee donghyuck, eastbrook high’s libero. i am hoping to get him on the b-team. however, if he does not wish to continue a volleyball career here at coalridge, the spot on the team will go to na jaemin.”

 

donghyuck accepted the spot on the team. he had fit right in with everyone, being recognized as one of the most talented players at their school despite his young age. it turned out that at eastbrook the training was a lot more intense, if you were on the team there, volleyball had to be your entire life. 

mark, even after two weeks had passed, had still not said anything to donghyuck. he felt bad, the younger boy had tried to initiate conversation with him before, but mark had always just pretended not to hear him, or gone to talk to one of the hyungs on the team. 

“i don’t understand why you haven’t spoken to him yet.” jaemin said one lunchtime, after listening to mark describe the most recent training session. jaemin had been disappointed about not making the team at first, but after discovering that he had more of a knack for soccer, had tried out for that team instead. “like dude, you’re playing on a team with lee donghyuck. i would be mega hyped if that was me. you could get so many training tips off of him, why are you passing it up?” 

“it just feels...disloyal i guess.” mark shrugged. “like that was meant to be your spot. we were meant to be best friends on the volleyball team.” 

jaemin shrugged, “so now we’ll just be best friends on different sports teams. this doesn’t make our friendship invalid. let’s get back to your deep rooted issue with donghyuck. didn’t you once say that he was the only one in the eastbrook team you didn’t hate?” 

“yeah because he was the only one on that team that wasn’t an asshole.” 

“and if you’re not careful, then he’s going to think you’re the only one on your team that  _is_  an asshole.” 

mark looked down into the lunch his mom had packed for him, finally accepting it. “you’re right jaemin.” 

“good. let’s go talk to him now.” 

“what, right now?” 

“yeah.” jaemin replied, dragging mark out of his seat. “right now, before you chicken out.” 

and then jaemin dragged him through the lunch hall, weaving between the tables. finally, he ended up in front of a certain chocolate brown haired, volleyball player’s table. mark was surprised to see him sitting by himself, donghyuck seemed so popular on the team. 

“can i help you?” donghyuck asked, looking at him like he had sprouted two heads, and mark realized that he’d just been standing there, mouth open for a good two minutes. 

“uhh, umm.” he looked from side to side, trying to find something to say to the younger boy. “can i train with you? after school today?” 

mark was surprised when donghyuck smiled, nodding eagerly. “yeah, sure, that would be great!” 

it was then that mark realized jaemin had abandoned him at the table, disappearing who-knows-where. 

“um, is it okay if i sit?” mark asked.

“are you sure you want to sit?” donghyuck replied teasingly. “you don’t seem very sure.” 

“no, i’m sure.” mark said, placing himself down on the seat opposite donghyuck. “why are you smirking at me like that?” 

“you were assertive, markssi. i’m glad.” 

“don’t call me that.” mark recoiled, the disgust on his face making donghyuck laugh, the sound sending chills up mark’s spine. 

“what would you like to be called then?” donghyuck asked, eyes twinkling. “markie?” 

“just, don’t be so formal talking to me. a hyung would be nice, but knowing how much of a brat you are i won’t expect it.” 

“hey!” donghyuck placed his hand over his heart, pretending to look affronted. “i’m offended.” 

“by the truth?” mark replied teasingly, smiling when donghyuck guffawed at his words. 

“say what you want, markie. i’m a loveable brat anyway.” 

“loveable? really?” 

mark ended up enjoying the rest of lunch, forgetting about jaemin ditching him, and he wondered why he had even been so bitter towards donghyuck in the first place. 

“so training? after school? you still want to?” donghyuck said as they exited the halls. 

“why wouldn’t i?” mark questioned, frowning.

“well, you might have spent time with me and changed your mind, but seeing as you’re still around... meet me at the gym hall right after the final bell.” 

“i’ll be there!” mark called, as he got dragged off to class by jaemin, waving at donghyuck.

 

mark was late. very late. he ran through the corridors of his school, bursting through the gym’s doors. “i’m so sorry i’m late.” he panted, shoulders heaving from the exertion. 

donghyuck looked up from his phone, eyes twinkling with glee. “did you run here markie?” 

“so what if i did.” mark replied defensively. “it’s rude to leave someone waiting.” 

“how cute.” donghyuck cooed, humour in his tone. “go get changed, markie, i don’t usually train in fifty pound jeans.” 

“oh! right okay, be right back.” mark said, disappearing into the boys locker room, donghyuck’s laugh echoing behind him. 

 

“well,” mark panted, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “that was intense.” 

donghyuck laughed again, throwing a spare bottle of water at him. “we used to do that twice a day at my old high school.” 

“eastbrook was a lot, yeah?” mark asked curiously, opting to sit down on the gym floor. donghyuck sat down next to him, running a hand through his hair before turning to look at mark with a serious expression. 

“eastbrook was too much for me. their passion for volleyball, the students, the teachers. that’s why i transferred here. it was too much. i wanted to sing - back at eastbrook the whole team laughed at me, but here more than half of your a and b teams are part of choirs and singing groups and it’s so much better.” mark was entranced by the look on donghyuck’s face as he spoke. “and you’re here.” the younger boy followed up quietly. 

“i’m sorry.” mark blurted out and donghyuck looked confused. “i don’t know if you noticed. when you first got here, i avoided you.” mark didn’t want to look at donghyuck after that, didn’t want to see the expression on his face. “truth be told, i hated you. your spot on the team, it was going to be my friend jaemin’s, we were going to be best friends on the team, but then you came along.” 

“and ruined your sporting fantasy.” donghyuck finished dryly. “look, training was good but i’ve got to go.” donghyuck stood to leave quickly, when suddenly mark reached out and grabbed on his wrist. 

“wait! i’m sorry, but i had to tell you that. look, after lunch today and training just now i realise how wrong i was. i really like you donghyuck, i want to be your friend.” 

donghyuck stood for a moment, blushing, before yanking his arm out of mark’s grip. “that was a nice speech, but i actually have to go.” he held up his phone for a second. “my mom’s outside waiting for me.” 

then he was gone, leaving mark alone. 

 

morklee: bro i cnat stop thinking about the look on his face as he left

nanajae: brooo, no offence but it was kinda ur fault

morklee: yea ik, no need to rub it in

nanajae: what r u going to do??

morklee: talk to him again apologize

morklee: i feel so bad tho

nanajae: wait bro...

nanajae: do u have a crush on him???

morklee: ..no

nanajae: i think u do

nanajae: that’s cute

 

mark watched donghyuck at team training the next day, watched how he interacted with the other team members. donghyuck was glowing, and mark - with the new knowledge of his maybe-crush on him - felt like a moth attracted to his light. it was while he listened to donghyuck’s laugh ringing out, while he saw a grin spread across the younger boy’s face, that he realized there was something familiar about it. 

it was then he remembered other lives - a young donghyuck in the park, a teenage donghyuck sharing a hospital room with him for one night, an older man, who had written him up for vandalism - all different versions of mark, all different versions of donghyuck, but still somehow the same one he was looking at now. 

the realisation struck him suddenly, like a flash of lightning. donghyuck was his soulmate, the one he was destined to be with through all of his lives. 

“donghyuck!” he called, trying to gesture the other over. “yah, brat!” 

taeil looked over at mark, then shoving the younger boy in his direction. “it looks important hyuck.” 

“look,” donghyuck sighed, taking a seat next to mark. “if you’re going to apologise, don’t bother hyung, its fine.” 

“hyuck - donghyuck.” mark took a deep breath. he’d thought all night about how exactly he was going to handle this - what if donghyuck didn’t remember yet, or didn’t like mark? “what - what kind of cancer did you have?” 

“what?” donghyuck’s face paled. “i don’t what you mean. what cancer?” 

mark searched the younger’s face, looking for any sign that he was lying, he was grasping at straws at this point. “don’t lie to me, please. if you remember, what cancer did you have?” 

donghyuck paused. “lung cancer, i was in one of the last stages. i got an infection, and i couldn’t fight it off. you remember now?” 

at mark’s confirming nod, donghyuck let out a sigh of relief, letting mark’s arms wrap around him as he sagged over. 

 

“when did you realise?” mark asked softly, facing donghyuck, who was comfortably sat next to him on mark’s bed. 

donghyuck shrugged. “it was one of the first times i saw you, when our schools were playing each other. i just saw you, through the net, and it was like someone flicked a switch. it gave me the worst migraine, i had to sit out. when did you remember?” 

“it may have started last night when i realized that i had a slight crush on you. then, in training today, like you said, it was like a switch being flipped. suddenly i could remember everything, all the past lives we’ve lived.” 

“well, mark lee, i hope that you still have a crush on me, seeing as i have one on you.” 

“well, lee donghyuck, no need to hope. i do.”

 

**fin.**

**Author's Note:**

> me: knows nothing about volleyball  
> also me: let's make it somewhat a volleyball au  
> thanks for reading!  
> u can find me on tumblr : donghyucklees  
> 


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